With the demand for alternative fueled, environmentally friendly or “green” vehicles on the rise, electric vehicles will become the vehicles of choice because of their zero emissions and their efficiency. Each electric vehicle may require a large amount of power to recharge. Many electric vehicle prototypes as of this writing have a storage capacity of 35 kWh. Each electric vehicle may require a recharge within a limited period of time, most likely overnight.
With more and more electric vehicles coming on line, electric rates will likely start to align with this increased demand. This means that as more electric vehicles are driven and coupled to the electrical grid, there will be certain times during the day in which electricity may be sold at a premium. For example, if the majority of a population of electric vehicle owners works between the hours of 9 AM to 5 PM, then it is likely that electrical demand for charging electric vehicles will peak between the hours of 6 PM to 8 PM when the electric vehicles reach their non-work destinations and are coupled to the grid to initiate charging of each electric vehicle for the next day's commute.
In view of this peak for electrical energy in the early evening hours, as demand for electrical power generally tapers off later in the evening and usually during the early hours of the morning prior to sunrise, the electrical rates will likely fall with this decrease in demand for power. This means that if an electric vehicle owner would like to charge his electric vehicle at the lower energy rates, then he would need to wait until this early morning time frame in which to couple his electric vehicle to the grid and start the charging of the electric vehicle.
One obvious problem with the electric vehicle operator waiting until the very early hours in the morning to charge his vehicle is that the electric vehicle operator will likely be sleeping during this window. Another problem with waiting for these early morning hours is that the electric vehicle operator could forget to couple his vehicle during or after this extended waiting period. A further problem is that there is no guarantee that demand for electric power will fall during these early morning hours.
There could be some situations in which demand for electrical power during the late evening and early morning hours does not taper significantly, such as in a cooling season for a particular geography which has many air conditioners coupled to the electrical grid. A further complication exists when the electrical energy rates drop during a time window in which there is not enough time during the window to reach a desired state of charge for the electric vehicle.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a system and method that can monitor electrical energy rates when an electric vehicle is coupled to the grid and to initiate charging of an electric vehicle when electrical lower electrical rates are available for the electric vehicle operator. There is also a need in the art for a method and system that can determine if charging of an electric vehicle should occur even if electrical rates have not dropped to values which are desired by an electric vehicle operator. A further need exists in the art for an intelligent method and system that can constantly determine if sufficient time remains to charge an electric vehicle while monitoring the electrical rates to determine the optimum time to start the charging of an electric vehicle.